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Overview

The default binary is kite (all-in-one); the lean editions — kitecmd (base only), kitecloud (base + Kubernetes), kiteai (base + LLM/MCP) — are subsets for space-conscious targets. Every command works in any edition that includes the modules it touches; edition-specific commands are flagged below.

Examples use kite; substitute kitecmd/kitecloud/kiteai for the lean editions.

Commands

Script execution

Available in every edition (base, cloud, ai, all).

Command Purpose
kite run Execute a starkite script
kite exec Execute inline Starlark code
kite repl Start an interactive Read-Eval-Print-Loop (REPL)
kite watch Watch and re-execute script on file changes
kite test Run test functions in _test.star files
kite validate Validate script syntax without executing
kite init Scaffold a new starkite module

Maintenance

Available in every edition.

Command Purpose
kite version Print version information
kite update Update starkite to the latest version
kite edition Manage starkite editions (base, cloud, ai)
kite module Manage external modules

Cloud commands

Available in kite (all-in-one) and kitecloud.

Command Purpose
kite kube Kubernetes artifact generation (gen-controller-artifacts, gen-webhook-artifacts)

Global Flags

Flag Description Default
--var key=value Set a script variable
--var-file path Load variables from YAML file
--output format Output format: text, json, yaml, table text
--debug Enable debug logging false
--dry-run Preview commands without executing false
--timeout seconds Script execution timeout 300
--permissions name Permission profile name: a built-in (deny-all/allow-fs/allow-net/allow-local/allow-all) or a profile defined in config.yaml; unset resolves to the config default profile or deny-all ""
--deny-all, --allow-fs, --allow-net, --allow-local, --allow-all Boolean aliases for --permissions=<profile>. Set at most one; not combinable with --permissions false
--sandbox[=profile] OS-level sandbox profile (Linux only): a built-in rung (opaque/net-access/host) or a config.yaml profile. Bare --sandbox selects the config default profile, else opaque. See Sandbox guide. ""
--sandbox-opaque, --sandbox-net-access, --sandbox-host Boolean aliases for --sandbox=<rung>. Set at most one sandbox flag false

Environment Variables

Variable Description
STARKITE_DEBUG Set to 1 or true to enable debug mode
STARKITE_OUTPUT Default output format
STARKITE_TIMEOUT Default timeout in seconds
STARKITE_VAR_* Variable injection (e.g., STARKITE_VAR_DB_HOST=localhostvar_str("db.host"))
STARKITE_SECURITY_SANDBOX Sandbox profile for shebang-launched scripts (same syntax as --sandbox). Linux only.